This unusual wheel-shaped scent bottle was probably made in Venice in the late 1600s or early 1700s. It has applied trailing and pincered decoration in clear and yellow glass radiating from the centre. While glassmakers in France and the Netherlands were adept at copying Venetian ornamental glass techniques by this period, this type of decoration in yellow is found on a number of glasses linked to production in Venice at around this time. A similar bottle is depicted in a painting signed and dated 1670 by Caspar Netscher, an artist who worked in The Hague. (It was exhibited by Johnny Van Haeften at the Grosvenor House Art & Antiques Fair 1998, cat. p. 230.) An elegant lady attended by an African page boy, sits at a table next to a large bowl of fruit with the glass scent bottle clearly visible nearby.

Production Note

A similar bottle is depicted in a painting by Caspar Netscher (worked in The Hague), signed and dated 1670. It was shown by Johhny Van Haeften at the Grosvenor House Art & Antiques Fair 1998, cat. p. 230 (see object info file).
The painting shows an elegant and elaborately dressed woman wearing pearls, with her black boy-servant. On the table a perfume bottle of similar shape.